Teri Zuroski, age 12, of Omaha, Neb., for her question:
WHERE DOES AN EARTHWORM SPEND THE WINTER?
Nowadays, one of the most stylish hobbies is tending earthworms. This is because the home vegetable garden is fashionable and plenty of healthy earthworms are needed to keep the soil in good condition. Hence every young vegetable grower wants to know all about the tender loving care of earthworms.
Andy tends his cherished earthworms in Southern California, where the winters are mild and the summers hot. Here the busy burrowers are active throughout the year, though they may need some extra shade and moisture to protect them during.the hot dry spells.
An earthworm is a cold blooded creature and his moist skin is very sensitive to drought and extreme temperatures. He dries up and dies in a drought, and becomes inactive when temperatures freeze or rise about 125 degrees Fahrenheit. When the surface soil is allowed to bake under the hot drying sun, he burrows down and waits for things to improve.
His normal burrowing levels are between one and four feet. During a hot dry spell, he burrows to the bottom level and lines a small room with moist mucus. Then he coils his wormy body into a ball of impossible knots and takes a long rest. This escape from the dry heat is called estivation, though in this case the rest period may be only for a few days.
In regions where the winters are frosty, the earthworm may burrow below before the first snow flies. However, even in the coldest weather, the soil may not freeze solid below a few inches. What's more, a blanket of soft snow tends to keep the surface soil moist and warmish. In any case, the worm remains busy wherever the soil is moist and fairly mild.
In some regions the frost reaches way down deep and the earthworm has to burrow down several feet. Then he is likely to coil up in a small chamber and become inactive. But he does not hibernate all through the winter. During the mild spells, he crawls forth to feed. Meantime, egg cases, most likely, were left in the soil and baby worms hatch and feed near the surface, under the moist snow
A spadeful of garden dirt may contain a few active worms, even in midwinter. But when the ground is frozen hard, most of the biggies are resting, coiled up in small chambers several feet below the surface. However, a top layer of manure or fluffy snow may coax them up to feed for a while.